Why is my homepage not number 1 when I do a site: commard on google

[stokelake]

Hi All,

Can you help please?

I think I got a smallish problem with google. When I do a site:mywebsite.com on google, my homepage is listed 40th. Normally, the homepage is number 1.

Any ideas what is causing this?

Thanks.

[suratmedia]

Check for canonical issues

[stokelake]

Thanks suratmedia.

I have checked and there is only 1 url for the homepage.

What canonical issues were you thinking about?

[tedster]

Here are some of the common troublemakers

example.com
www.example.com
example.com/index.asp
www.example.com/index.asp
www.example.com/index.asp?var=something

See Canonical URL Issues - including some new ones [webmasterworld.com] for more possibilitue

[limoshawn]

Tedster, now that wmt allows for defining how gbot handles Parameters do you think that ?var=something would still create a canonical issue? (sorry about sidetracking tracking the thread)

[tedster]

First, let's say that the ideal is not to resolve such URLs directly. If there is data in the query string that you need (not the best idea, but some websites use such software) then save that data to a table somewhere and 301 redirect to the same URL without the query string. If you let the query string stay in the final address bar, then someone somewhere may link to it.

Also, if the query string is not something you've intentionally established, you may be the target of a spammer's game - see Spam words in a query string [webmasterworld.com] for a more detailed discussion.

------

But not everyone has a hosting situation that allows the kind of technology I recommended. So the Webmaster Tools option is another possible way to deal with the situation. But the question is - does it "work"? That is, will it stop Google from displaying the query string URL in their search results (yes) and will it combine the PageRank (uncertain).

Given the immense amount of data that Google deals with, stuff happens - we see it all the time. So "if" everything works as planned, then the Webmaster Tools choice should be OK. But still I worry.

If I were forced to use the Webmaster Tools option, I would at least back it up with the canonical link tag. And I would also look for a way to migrate to a better long-term solution.